Hard-hit California will carry out mass coronavirus vaccinations at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and other sites as officials look to ramp up the distribution of doses this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.
The sites also include Petco Park in San Diego, where the Padres play, and the state fairgrounds in Sacramento. Vaccinations could begin this week, Newsom said, and more mass vaccination sites are expected in the future.
“We recognize the current strategy isn’t going to get us where we need to go as quickly as we need to go,” he told reporters.
Less than 800,000 vaccinations have been administered so far, though the state is aiming to vaccinate another 1 million people by the end of this weekend, he said.
The sites are being opened as California continues to record more new coronavirus cases than any other state, according to data from Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Newsom said the surge appeared to be easing slightly, as the state last week saw the smallest increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations that it’s seen weeks.
Still, most intensive care units across the state remained at or close to capacity, he said.